Half the acoustic briefs that land on a design team’s desk will say something vague like “we want good acoustics” or “no echo, please.” That tells you nothing. You might as well tell a structural engineer you’d like the building to “feel solid” without giving them any specs. There’s nothing to design against.
And with no measurable target, there’s no way to check whether the treatment actually worked once it’s installed, so rooms end up either over-treated and weirdly dead or barely different from before. Let’s take a closer look at where these briefs typically go wrong and what they should actually contain.
“Good Acoustics” Doesn’t Mean Anything on a Spec Sheet
Treating acoustics like a vibe instead of a measurable outcome is the single biggest mistake clients make. “Good acoustics” can mean ten different things. A facilities manager hears “fewer complaints,” an architect thinks about keeping the ceiling looking clean, HR starts worrying about staff retention surveys, and the people actually working in the space just want to hop on a video call without shutting a door.
Without a target, nobody can verify anything. A brief that says “reduce reverberation” but doesn’t pin down a reverberation time will leave the design team guessing, and budget will end up shaping that guess, not what the room actually needs.
What a Measurable Brief Looks Like
BS ISO 22955:2021 gives design teams a proper framework for open-plan offices. It breaks spaces into activity types like collaborative zones and quiet-focus areas, and it sets criteria for reverberation time, speech level drop over distance, background noise, and workstation sound exposure. On top of that, the WELL Building Standard ties acoustic performance to occupant wellbeing credits.
A solid brief will reference one or both of those standards and spell out exactly what the space needs to hit. A concentration-heavy office, for example, might target a reverberation time under 0.6 seconds and a speech level drop of at least 7 dB over 4 metres. Numbers like these give everyone a clear goal to work towards, from the acoustician right through to the contractor fitting acoustic wall panels for offices. A target that specific also makes the post-installation check simple, because either the room hits the numbers or it doesn’t.
Coverage Beats Product Choice
Clients often fixate on the product before they’ve worked out how much surface area actually needs treating. They’ll specify a panel finish or a particular brand in the brief but leave out coverage requirements entirely. One attractive wall panel in a 200 square metre open plan isn’t going to change a thing.
In any office, the ceiling does most of the heavy lifting. Wall panels then catch reflections the ceiling can’t reach, particularly near hard surfaces like glass partitions. Getting the balance right between ceiling treatment and wall treatment will always matter more than whatever fabric colour ends up on the mood board.
Why Most Acoustic Projects Go Wrong Right from the Start
Most acoustic problems start in the gap between what clients want and what they actually put on paper. “Quiet, focused workspace” is a wish. A reverberation target, a speech level drop figure and a minimum coverage percentage are things a team can actually deliver against and verify once the work is done.
The irony is that vague briefs usually end up costing more, not less. Without clear targets, design teams either overspecify to be safe, which inflates the budget, or underspecify to save money, which leads to complaints and a second round of treatment six months later. A brief that takes an extra hour to write properly will save weeks of back and forth during the project and remove the guesswork that leaves rooms sounding wrong after the panels are already up. Push for numbers first. The aesthetics can come after, and the room will sound better for it.
